[Piano Red]

Link

U.S. Navy receives new submarine

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding reports it has delivered the pre-commissioned SSN 781 submarine to the U.S. Navy.

The USS California was delivered more than eight months ahead of the scheduled contract delivery date.

"The quality and professionalism of our Navy/shipbuilding team is evident in California's outstanding performance during its recent sea trials and early delivery," said Program Executive Officer for Submarines Rear Adm. David Johnson.

California required 65 months to build. It is the eighth Virginia-class submarine and is the first delivered under the HII–NNS banner, the company said.

The next major event for California will be its commissioning Oct. 29 in Norfolk, Va.

California's commissioning is the second-to-last major acquisition milestone for the Virginia-class program in 2011.

Virginia-class submarines are designed to dominate the world's littoral and deep waters while conducting anti-submarine, anti-surface ship, strike, special operation forces, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, irregular warfare and mine warfare missions.

Damn impressive, and even more so when one considers that the USS Mississippi, the next Virginia in the pipeline, is due for commissioning as early as next year.

Ingalls deserves a lot of praise for making the Virginias such an outstanding success story for the USN in recent years. Especially with critics who said they wouldn't prove better than the Seawolves, or that the program itself has been able to push forward in their construction without any form of cost-overruns or delays.

Such efficiency really needs to be replicated in other DoD acquisition programs.

[Rei Murasame]

That's pretty amazing. Whoever is running that company are certainly very serious men and women. They might be able to get out more than two a year if they keep going at this rate?

[Typhoon]

Good news for American shipbuilding, the Virginias are a fine class and the line is a model for other programs.

[Piano Red]

Rei Murasame

They might be able to get out more than two a year if they keep going at this rate?

It's certainly possible.

1.5 to 2 ships per year is pretty normal for most USN Subs and Destroyers.

[Old Brit]

Bae Systems really needs to take a leaf out of this companies book, the Astute class is running about 50% over budget and about 4 years behind schedule.

[Igor Antunov]

California required 65 months to build.

Is this correct? That's 5.5 years. I assume they have them in parallel on the production line? How many are currently being built?

[Piano Red]

Construction of the Virginia class is a modular process, a spin off of techniques first coined with the Seawolf class boats. I'd assume that critical components and assemblies began around that time.

The keel however wasn't actually laid down until 2009 though.

I assume they have them in parallel on the production line?

Yep.

How many are currently being built?

Three currently (Mississippi which is almost done, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Maybe four if work has started on the John Warner).

[Xbow]

Construction of the Virginia class is a modular process, a spin off of techniques first coined with the Seawolf class boats. I'd assume that critical components and assemblies began around that time.

Impressive! Especially for a sub that requires every weld on the pressure hull to be inspected via X-ray and stress relieved.

Note: The Modular construction method for subs was pioneered by the Germans in WWII for their XXI boats. But because they had to spread out the construction process across a wide area to defended against allied bombing some fit problems resulted. The USA perfected and expanded to process for many different ship types. Even US Aircraft carriers are built this way now except the enormous hull sections are floated and not lifted into place.

1944 XXI boat prefabricated sections and a finished XXI Boat.

Arleigh Burke class destroyers

The boys at:
General Dynamics: Bath Iron Works Division,
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems,
Ingalls Shipbuilding,
and Bath Iron Works

All take a few months to assemble components and installations for a 9000 ton Arleigh Burke class destroyer. And about nine months later its ready for sea trials. If they were pressed each of the 4 yards could pump out about three or four per year because of the modular process Piano Red mentioned.

And excellent film about the modular shipbuilding method Making of the Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer

[Typhoon]

Nice find XBow, there was a good documentary recently following the shake down of a Burke following its construction. Been looking for it online but have yet to find it....

[Xbow]

NP bro I'm looking for a vid about the new Russian Borei class subs. 14,000 tons,about the same size as an Ohio class but with 16 missile tubes as opposed to the Ohio's 24 (But with 10 MIRVs per RSM-56 Bulava missile as opposed to the Tridents 8 warheads per missile. I understand that the Borei class sounds like a 'hole in the water' at anything below 10 knots.

Note: The Borei packs 160 150kt warheads while the Ohio packs 192 100 kt warheads so the Borei is packing 24,000kts as opposed to the Ohio's 19,200kts. A pair of nasty buggers.

40min video of the British Astute class attack sub under construction by the BAE Systems yard at Barrow-in-Furness (stealthier than the Virginia class?)
◄CLICK ME

Note: The Link I included in my previous post has a ~15min section on the sea trials of that AB at the end.